


it all comes twirling down

by peeira



Category: The Adventure Zone (Podcast), The Magnus Archives (Podcast)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Crossover, Gen, Mannequin Magnus Burnsides
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-23
Updated: 2020-08-23
Packaged: 2021-03-06 19:14:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,066
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26054038
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/peeira/pseuds/peeira
Summary: Magnus feels himself being pulled into the rift, his strength failing him at every second. He can see the astral plane now, and all the souls that inhabit it. He tries to turn around and yell, but nothing. He’s being pulled in, and there’s nothing he can do about it.But something happens.The rift leading to the astral plane shifts, and instead, there’s a door.
Relationships: Magnus Burnsides & Jonathan "Jon" Sims | The Archivist
Comments: 6
Kudos: 65





	it all comes twirling down

**Author's Note:**

> I just looove crossovers. Here's hoping no one wrote about this before, and I didn't steal anyone's ideas!
> 
> Set during MAG 101: Another Twist (TMA) and between The Suffering Game - Chapter Six and Seven (TAZ).

Magnus yells out, as loud as he can. 

_That’s not me! Get away from him!_

But it's useless, his friends can't hear him.

So he _pulls_. He pulls and pulls, twists his body around and whips his head, trying to find something to grab on, to get back down and join the fight. But it’s useless. There’s nothing around him, nothing that can ground him, only emptiness – it feels as if he’s swimming on a waterless lake.

It doesn’t hurt anymore, the sensation of having his soul _ripped out_ from his body. And it's terrifying.

Magnus feels himself being pulled into the rift, his strength failing him at every second. He can see the astral plane now, and all the souls that inhabit it. He tries to turn around and yell, but nothing. He’s being pulled in, and there’s nothing he can do about it. He’s going to die – he’s already dead! his soul is gone! – and he’ll never see Taako or Merle or Lucretia ever again and he–

Something happens.

The rift leading to the astral plane _shifts_ , and instead, there’s a door. Magnus barely has any time to process what is happening when the door opens and he is sucked into it.

He twists violently, _painfully_ , and he’s back on his feet again.

He... he’s back. He’s back in his body and conscious again and more importantly... He’s alive! But... how? He was coming _from_ Wonderland, not into it.

But more importantly... Taako and Merle! Where are they? He puts a hand on his forehead and feels a familiar sensation. It feels like the wood he used to make Carey’s duck, it feels like the wood he used to make some of his costumers’ chairs, it feels like–

He abruptly raises his arms in front of him and stares in horror at the sight. _Oh_ _god_. No. Oh god, no, oh god, oh god. This... can’t be. This can’t be happening! He’s a mannequin?! How! Why! Did Edward do this!?

Magnus shudders, letting out terrified breaths – from where?? – but then shakes his head. Because now is not the time for this. He needs to find Merle and Taako as soon as possible, who knows what they’re going through right now.

Can he even speak? Well, only one way to find out. “I don’t have time for this,” Magnus says out loud, in his normal voice, which is good. He can speak, thank God. At least there’s that.

Magnus examines his surroundings, trying to calm down a little and figure out exactly where he is.

There’s no catwalk in the room, which means he must have ended up somewhere else, away from his friends, and also the other ghost-skeleton dude. All around him there’s mannequins, all neatly dressed, like the ones Edward and Lydia commanded. He lets out a dry laugh. He’s back, alright.

It’s kind of ironic, really. His body was... already taken – ugh – so he had to end up somewhere else.

His ears suddenly pick up several voices, but he can’t properly hear what they are saying or where exactly they’re coming from. Magnus instinctively reaches for his shield, but realizes with a start he doesn’t have a single weapon on his body, or any armour at all, for that matter.

“Well, that’s not good.” Magnus shakes his head. It doesn’t matter, thought, he’s a warrior, a fine one at that – also a rogue, here and there – and his friends need him, and he’ll be damned if he’ll waste any more time drowning in his sorrows.

He searches around the room for something he can use as a makeshift weapon. He quickly gives up, though, because there’s nothing. He briefly wonders if he could rip out of the arms of the mannequins scattered around the place.

The voices stop, and there's the sound of a door closing. Whoever they were, they’re not there anymore. Magnus takes this chance to look for a way out of the room.

He eventually walks in through a door, then hears a gagged sound. He looks around, searching for the source.

There’s a human man tied up to a chair, his mouth gagged, probably one of the others unlucky competitors. He looks super messy, with dishevelled dark hair, sweating nonstop, making Magnus think he has been imprisoned for quite some time, albeit not as much as Cam. Better do something about it.

Magnus rushes over to the man and he widens his eyes in... not necessarily fear, but... confusion, maybe? The man tries to yell something over his gag, and frantically starts trembling as Magnus gets closer.

“Hey – It’s okay!” Magnus assures the man, who keeps struggling in the chair. God, what happened to this guy? Did he come alone? Maybe he cheated and the liches locked him up here as punishment? “I’m getting you out of there!”

Magnus peels the gag from the man’s mouth and takes a step back so the other human can recover. “What the–” he coughs, then takes a breath. He glances up and down at Magnus in pure shock. “Who the _hell_ are you?” His accent sounds just like the fake one Kravitz uses, although this feels genuine.

“I’m Magnus Burnsides,” he replies without really meaning to, and the other man lifts an eyebrow. He reaches for the ropes and unties the man. “Listen, do you, like, know a way out of here? My friends are in real trouble and I need to get to them ASAP.”

The man forces himself up with a groan. “Are you one of _them_?” he asks suspiciously, his hands wringing together. “How did you even get in here?”

“One of them?” Magnus echoes. Well, he IS a mannequin, of course the other guy would think he’s working with Lydia and Edward. “You mean, like the liches in charge here? No, I also came to Wonderland to get a prize for... an employer, let’s leave it at that, but things got out of hand and I lost my body.”

“Liches? Wonderland?” the other man murmurs, very confused. He raises a finger, clearly indicating Magnus should stay quiet. “Just – Hold on a moment.”

“No, _you_ hold on,” Magnus says, lifting a finger. They’re wasting time here, and its unnerving him. “I’m– ”

“ _No_ ,” the man straightens up and looks Magnus right in the eye. “Who are you, really? Tell me.” Again, that weird sensation from before gets a hold of Magnus, and he begins to speak without meaning to.

“I work for the Bureau of Balance – actually, before that I came from Raven’s Roost. Me, Taako and Merle got a mission from Lucretia to come Wonderland to secure a relic called the Animus Bell,” Magnus says. “But things got messy quickly. Turns out in Wonderland you can’t heal – not that I have much experience with that – and the two elves in charge there kept telling us to make these weird sacrifices in order to keep going – like sacrificing our eyes and fingers, even memories and abilities,” he keeps going. “Eventually the three of us managed to win, but the two elves turned out to be liches who feed on people’s suffering. One of them possessed my body because of a previous trial I failed and well, here I am.”

The man blinks at Magnus, and brings a hand to his forehead, taking all the information in stride.

“Uh,” Magnus says with a baffled look on his face. He said all of that in one go and somehow doesn’t feel tired. “How did you do that?” Was he just... compelled? Could this man be, or be in possession of a Grand Relic? It is possible, since with the Bell, there’s only one left. If so, that’s troubling.

The other human pinches his nose. “So, you – you’re telling me you came from a... Bureau, with the mission of acquiring a certain bell, but instead you ended up in a trap of some sort and lost your body?”

“Yeah,” Magnus says flatly. “My real body got hijacked by a lich.” He glances around the room, searching for a way out. “So, can we get out of here now? As I said, Taako and Merle still need my help in Wonderland.”

“Wonderland?” the man asks, confused. “We’re in London, there’s no place anywhere named Wonderland.”

“No...?” Magnus retorts. There’s no place anywhere named London. “We both got here because we wanted something. If you manage to get through Wonderland you get a prize at the end, remember?” Maybe the liches made this guy sacrifice his short term memory. Unless...

The man offers Magnus a weak smile. “No idea what you’re talking about.”

Magnus sighs, because somehow he knew it. “So. I’m not in Wonderland.” He crosses his arms. “I guess I just didn’t want to believe it.”

“Y-yeah,” the other man says, rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly. “Sorry about that.”

It still doesn’t answer the question of where Magnus is, or how he even got here. “What exactly is this place?” Magnus asks.

“Not so sure myself,” he replies. “A sentient mannequin that steals people’s skin kidnapped me and brought me here.” He says, nonchalantly.

If he had eyes, Magnus would blink.

The man offers him a smile, followed by his hand. “I’m Jonathan Sims, by the way,” he says. “Head Archivist of the Magnus Institute.”

“Huh.” Magnus remarks out loud, then takes his hand. “Magnus Burnsides.” An Institute and a Bureau, all of which have a Magnus in it. Interesting. Probably doesn’t mean a thing, but still an interesting coincidence.

Jon lets out a small chuckle, seemingly sharing the same thought. “Magnus, huh?”

“Yeah!” Magnus says, triumphant. “Nice name for a warrior, right?”

“You did say something about being a warrior,” Jon remarks. “What’s that all about? Are you a... mercenary or something? And before you mentioned something about... elves?”

Wow, he REALLY ended up in the wrong plane. Maybe even one of the realities Lucas showed them before. “Uh, yeah? I’m from a place called Faerûn, where there are a ton of elves, orcs, halflings and dwarves walking around – hell, even dragons, but I’ve never been lucky enough to fight one. I did fight a Goliath once. Well, kind of.”

“You’re joking,” Jon says, open-mouthed. “It sounds like you just came out of a DND campaign,” he lets out a small chuckle. “I haven’t played it since university,” he muses.

“Maybe.” Magnus shrugs, not sure what he’s on about. “But listen, I _really_ need to find a way out of here. I have a bad feeling about the fight that’s happening on the other side.”

Jon sighs. “Thing is,” he contemplates, bringing a hand to his mouth. “I’m not exactly sure where we are right now. If we want to find your friends then we should–”

There’s the sudden sound of distorted laughter, followed by the sound of a door slowly creaking open.

“Oh, God.” Jon flinches. He turns to Magnus with a terrified expression on his face. “We need to–”

A door in front of them – a door that Magnus swears wasn’t there, not even seconds ago – opens, and a blonde human man comes out of it. No, not a human. After taking a closer look, Magnus can clearly see limbs longer than they should be, and that the man’s body is twisted and contorted in inhumane ways.

He swallows, looking at the figure, and Jon lets out a shaky breath. “Michael,” he spits.

“Oh?” Michael giggles, examining the two men before him. “And here I thought I was the one who would save you from your restraints, Archivist.” He lets out another long, distorted giggle. “No matter. I have come to a decision.” He smiles, his lips almost reaching his ears. “I’m going to kill you.”

At his words, Magnus steps in front of Jon defensively, raising his arms (more like fists, but he’s a mannequin, so). Protecting those in need has always been his motto, after all, no matter what plane he is in.

Michael hums intrigued, turning his head to face Magnus. “I don’t know you. My quarrel is with the Archivist, but I’m no friend of the creatures of the Circus, either,” he says.

Magnus holds his ground. Sure, this thing may look terrifying and gross, especially up close, but it also looks like a couple of punches would get the job done, even in his current state. He should watch out for those fingers, thought, they sure look sharp.

“Magnus it’s – it’s alright.” Jon says in a defeated tone. “It’s here for me. There’s nothing you can do.” He reaches for his pocket and pulls out some sort of rectangular device. “I know what it wants.”

“A wise choice, Archivist,” Michael says smugly. “You don’t want the Circus to take notice of you. They won’t be as... pleasant as me.” There’s another giggle. “As I said, I _am_ going to kill you, however I want you to understand, even if it does go against my nature. Feel free to ask me any questions you may have.”

Magnus looks at Jon quizzically as he asks Michael all sorts of questions. It’s obvious Jon is familiar with this thing – maybe Jon is this plane’s Reclaimer, and Michael is one of the Grand Relics that need to be stopped. The thought makes a shiver run down his non-existent spine, because he just remembered he needs to _go_. Like, now.

“Statement begins,” Jon says after a while, bringing Magnus back to reality. Magnus opens his mouth to tell him to shut up, that he needs to leave, but he can’t.

There’s something _compelling_ Magnus to stop and listen to Michael talk. He listens as the distorted man talks about his own creation, about some sort of ritual that took place in a far-away land, about being betrayed by his mentor and used as bait, about becoming the Michael he is today.

Michael goes on and on, and Magnus can only listen.

Then he finally stops talking. He points a long finger at Jon. “It’s best if you die now, Archivist.”

Jon flinches, looking desperately at Magnus, who has no idea what to do. “Is... Is there anything I can do to stop you from killing me?”

Michael laughs. “If you scream loud enough the Circus may take notice of me,” he says. “But don't worry, Archivist. I promise you will die far more pleasantly with me than with them.” Michael motions to a door behind Jon, and beckons him to go inside.

Jon stares at Michael for a few moments. He lets out a defeated sigh, then solemnly makes his way towards the door.

“No!” Magnus dashes to Jon's side and grabs his arms, pulling him aside. “You’re not going anywhere,” he says, and shoots Michael a defying look.

Michael laughs at the display before him. “As I said before,” he walks over to the closed door. “Your death will be painless if you come with me. Not many have such a choice.” He reaches for the handle and tries to turn it open.

Nothing happens.

Michael frantically keeps trying to open the door, to no avail. He let out a nervous laugh, as if this shouldn’t be happening.

“It’s... locked?” Jon asks, and Magnus stares.

“No, it’s not!” Michael yells, his previous calm demeanour gone. “It’s not possible!” he says, shaking. “Because, that means... Oh.” A sudden flash of realization moves across Michael’s face “Oh, no.” He spins around with the obvious intention of running away, when the door creaks open. “Please! Don’t!”

A hand emerges from the door and grabs Michael by the arm, pulling him inside. There’s a deafening scream, and both Jon and Magnus have to cover their ears – the latter trying to, anyway.

The door creaks open once again, and a neatly dressed woman steps into the room. Her figure is also heavily distorted, with limbs longer than they should be, her curly hair almost threatening to leave its scalp, but she seems somewhat different. More... grounded.

Jon and Magnus proceed to exchange a very concerned look.

“Do you want to come in?” The woman says.

“Helen Richardson?!” Jon exclaims, his mouth agape. “What did you do to Michael?”

“He got distracted,” she replies with a shrug. “Let feelings that shouldn’t have been his overwhel–” she stops. “Oh,” whips her head towards Magnus and presses a finger to her lips. “You’re quite lost, aren’t you?”

“Uh,” Magnus says. “Y-yes? I'm not supposed to be here.”

“Ah,” she says with a nod. “That was my mistake, I apologize. As I said before, I was... overwhelmed,” she points at an adjacent door that, again, Magnus SWEARS wasn't there before. “That's your way home.”

“H-hold on,” Jon says nervously. “You're letting him go, just like that? You're not going to... kill us?”

Helen sighs. “No, that was Michael's desire, not mine.” She makes her way towards said door and crosses her arms, looking at Magnus expectantly.

Jon glances at Magnus. “Wait,” he says. “This... thing, Michael or... or Helen, it's - it's also known as the Liar,” he turns to her. “How do I know you're telling the truth?”

She tilts her head to the side. “How do you know I'm not?”

“Honestly? At this point I don't care anymore, as long as I can get back to Taako and Merle,” Magnus says, heading towards the door. “It's, uh, been nice meeting you, Jon.” It was, really. A different circumstance would have been nice, but he can't complain much, at least he managed to find his way home. He turns to look at Jon one last time. “See ya.”

Jon waves a hand. “Goodbye, Magnus.”

Helen knocks on the door. “Again, I do apologize for the mistake,” she remarks, and before Magnus has any time to react, she shoves him into the door, which closes behind him.

He’s back in that empty space, but this time he's on the right track.

A rift opens in front of him, and Magnus sees his friends kicking ass against Edward and Lydia. A sudden wave of adrenaline rushes over Magnus, and he eagerly lets himself be pulled into the rift.

Maybe one day he’ll get to talk to Jon again, but for now, his friends are right there, waiting for him, and that's what matters.

As soon as Magnus gets back on his feet, he rushes in towards the fighting and towards Edward.

He'll be having his body back.

**Author's Note:**

> I cut out some of the dialogue between Michael and Jon so I wouldn't just, you know, copy the whole thing.
> 
> Anyway, I hope you liked this??


End file.
